Businessman gets out black paint to fix tram firm's mistake

AN embattled shopkeeper resorted to using a tin of black paint to cover up double yellow lines which appeared "out of nowhere" outside his Leith Walk store as part of the tram works.

Gordon Burgess, owner of the Bed Shop, said he was forced to take action after failing to get a response from tram firm TIE over the new restrictions.

Mr Burgess, chairman of the Leith Walk Traders' Association, concealed the offending traffic restrictions with a roller and two tins of paint yesterday afternoon.

He said: "These double yellow lines appeared out of nowhere at the weekend. TIE knew nothing about it when I contacted them and I demanded their immediate removal.

"I had to take matters into my own hands because we are absolutely fed up. It shouldn't take a shopkeeper to go and do it. The yellow lines should not have been there in the first place, but it took me 35 minutes with a couple of tins of paint and a roller to get rid of them. It was very therapeutic, I have to say."

Mr Burgess, who says his business has suffered as a result of the ongoing tram works, said he believed contractors had mistakenly painted the lines in an attempt to reinstate the street ahead of the Christmas embargo on work. Traders in Leith Walk are set for their first break from the tram roadworks in 18 months under the city centre embargo.

Businesses have taken the brunt of the tram works so far and many have complained that the disruption has cost them thousands of pounds in lost revenue.

Mr Burgess added: "Somebody has decided to reinstate the road as it was, but there were never yellow lines there, so it's a complete mystery. As soon as I had painted out the lines, the whole block was filled with cars."

A spokesman for TIE said the double yellow lines had been painted in error and the mistake had since been rectified by one of the company's contractors.

Last month, residents of Leith Walk reacted angrily after it emerged that nearly every tree on the street is to be chopped down.

Locals claimed the street would be left a "concrete, stone and tarmac desert".

TIE needs to chop down the 20-year-old trees to move utility pipes, but it intends to replace them by planting trees in side streets around Leith Walk. Tram chiefs also said they would plant two trees for every one felled across the city.